In another rather humorous demonstration of The Rapid’s track record of not being very good at managing their money, in June of last year the board was informed that when the Silver Line‘s budget was being formulated, they forgot to include the cost of maintaining things. The cost of routine maintenance has grown to around…
If you recall, The Rapid attempted its tax increase in 2010, which failed at the polls, so they tried again in 2011, and the tax increase passed by 136 votes. The tax increase was ostensibly to implement the Silver Line, which we have been critical from the start because of the impossibly absurd promises made…
It’s been nearly a year since the $40 million Rapid Silver Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line opened for business, so we thought it would be a good time to check up on how things are going. In short, it’s a disaster: Since the Silver Line entered service, The Rapid has been losing ridership The…
We’ve been hearing that the Interurban Transit Partnership (The Rapid) provides a benefit to the local economy to the tune of $100 million per year.[1] Where does this number come from and does it hold up to scrutiny? As we’ll show you, it’s completely, demonstrably false. At its most basic level, the $100 million number…
Two staff members at The Rapid have responded to our “Myths vs. Facts” report. When reading through it, we’re reminded of the phrase from the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy and her companions are frightened by the display of power from the almighty Wizard, and then they’re told to pay no attention to that man…
Today Jeff Steinport, co-founder of Kent County Families for Fiscal Responsibility (KCFFR) and manager of the group’s ITP Watch project, filed a Freedom of Information Act appeal with Don Lawless, the chairman of the Interurban Transit Partnership board (also known as The Rapid). This appeal is a result of The Rapid’s vindictive and illegal response…
This week the non-partisan Kent County Open Government Project released their first annual survey of local government openness. Each major unit of government in Kent County was rated based on the amount of information made available to the public through its web site. The survey looked for important transparency topics such as availability of contact…
In April of 2007, The Rapid made a big deal about purchasing two hybrid-electric buses (pictured below). They claimed that these buses, at a cost of $510,000 each (compared to about $290,000 for a regular bus) would reduce pollution and double the miles per gallon of a regular bus. According to an article in the…
The Rapid’s board of directors announced last week that they are pursuing a 31% property tax millage increase on May 3rd to fund, among other things, the failed Rapid Silver Line bus system in Grand Rapids. ITP Watch, a project of Kent County Families for Fiscal Responsibility, is opposing this tax increase for the same…
The ITP’s board meeting in December of 2009 had a discussion about the Rapid Silver Line. It’s clear that they are pressing full speed ahead with coming back to voters to raise taxes, again, for this failed and inefficient project. You can read the meeting’s minutes here. Mr. Jaiyeoba gave an update on the Silver…